Talented point guard Josiah Turner, whose freshman year at Arizona was interrupted multiple times by disciplinary issues, has decided against resuming his college basketball career at SMU and instead will attempt to begin playing professionally.

Turner had been recruited as a transfer to SMU by new coach Larry Brown and his staff, but Turner instead will look for professional opportunities in the D-League or internationally.

"I had to step back and reevaluate what my main goal and my dream was," Turner told Yahoo! Sports on Tuesday night. "My dream is to be a professional athlete in the NBA, and I think this is what's going to bring me closer to it. In college you get your degree and everything, but going pro is getting me closer to my dream and what I want to do in life."

A 6-3 point guard from Sacramento, Turner was a top-20 prospect entering his senior year in high school. He was dismissed from the team at Sacramento High partway through his final season, though, and transferred to a prep school in North Carolina to complete his high school career.

Early in his freshman season at Arizona, Turner was withheld from the starting lineup of a game against Duquesne, reportedly for arriving late to a practice, and was benched when the Wildcats played Ball State in December. After missing another practice, he was left home from the Wildcats' trip to Florida, where they lost in overtime.

Turner started 15 of the team’s final 17 regular-season games and was averaging 6.8 points and 2.4 assists. Prior to the Pacific-12 Tournament, however, coach Sean Miller suspended Turner indefinitely—a punishment that quite possibly cost the Wildcats an NCAA Tournament bid. Turner remained suspended for the team's brief appearance in the NIT.

"I am disappointed in Josiah for his actions," Miller said in a statement issued at the time. "Unfortunately, this suspension comes at a time of great excitement and opportunity for our team. However, the standards of our program will not be compromised under any circumstances. Hopefully, Josiah will learn a valuable lesson from this experience."

When it became apparent he would not be welcomed back into the Arizona program, Turner announced he would seek transfer opportunities and eventually chose SMU. Subsequent to that announcement, Turner was arrested by University of Arizona campus police on suspicion of extreme DUI. Turner told Yahoo! that he had issues with both alcohol and marijuana while attending Arizona.

"My maturity level now is way higher than it was when I was in Arizona," Turner said. "I was young. I made mistakes. I just learned a lot from last year thinking about where I could be at right now and thinking about the things I did last year. It was all stupid."

Turner’s departure from college basketball is being portrayed by some as a significant blow to Brown’s efforts to resurrect the SMU program, but that seems to be something of an overreaction. It does not take into account what challenges Turner might have provided to his new coaches, nor the opportunity for the Mustangs to recruit another point guard prior to the 2013-14 season.

Given that Turner changed high schools five times, transferred after a single college season and failed to follow through on the commitment he made to Brown only a couple months back, it’s hard to imagine SMU is not better off seeking someone else to lead its attack.